NEW YORK // Beyond the smell of fast food and up on the seventh floor of an unprepossessing building on 125th Street, Harlem's thoroughfare, schoolchildren furiously practised playing their violins.
With less than a week to go before performing at one of the balls in Washington to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama as the next president, the children had no need of sheet music - they had already learnt the scores by heart. But Roberta Guaspari, co-founder and artistic director of the Opus 118 Harlem School of Music, wanted to finesse every detail. "I need your eyes, I need your eyes," she said, urging the children to always follow her conducting while they played Florida Blues.
Much of the United States is eagerly awaiting Mr Obama's transition into power on Tuesday and the event will be marked with a series of balls and parties in the capital. Headline performers at a free concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday include musicians Bruce Springsteen, Bono and Herbie Hancock. But a host of ordinary Americans will also take part, including the 26 children from Harlem, who range in age from nine to 16. They will perform for 2,000 guests on Sunday at the Every Child Matters ball at the Historical Society of Washington DC.
Mr Obama's schedule was still not known but the children fervently hoped he would attend. "I'd like him to sign my violin," said Montel Washington, who is nine. "I hope he makes our country a better country, look after the homeless people and make sure there's food for everybody." Opus 118 was founded in 1991 and provides instruction in violin, cello, piano, guitar and voice at no cost to students or parents in Harlem, a historically African-American neighbourhood notorious for poverty and cultural vibrancy but not classical music. Opus 118 is dependent on donations, and its after-school programme, which serves about 250 students, costs US$3,000 per child (Dh11,000) per year.
About 41 per cent of the children are African-American, 55 per cent are Hispanic and four per cent are Caucasian or Asian. Some 92 per cent receive free lunches at school paid for by the federal government while 66 per cent are from families classified as low income. The school's driving force is Ms Guaspari. Her character was played by Meryl Streep in the 1999 movie Music of the Heart, for which Streep received an Oscar nomination.
Ms Guaspari hopes the Washington performance will help boost donations so she can continue to teach violin - a discipline she believes helps the children academically as well as emotionally. "Learning the violin is tedious, slow and disciplined, but I don't let them quit. The kids have to think about so much at the same time - intonation, rhythm, technique, emotion - and put it all together," she said. "Learning the violin gives them the will power to do other things, solve problems, learn math, whatever it is."
Her charismatic effect on the children was palpable, even in the stuffy rehearsal room, where the children spent their Sunday afternoon working hard instead of playing. Sitting with perfectly straight backs, the children listened to Ms Guaspari's various injunctions about their performance as well as an admonition not to linger after an evening rehearsal later in the week because of a school test some of them faced the following morning.
Ms Guaspari said she was a staunch supporter of Mr Obama and hoped he would follow through on his commitment to support early education. "The violin is perfect because even children as young as four can start, whereas they couldn't learn the trumpet, for example," she said. "Cutting music in schools is a big mistake." The group's performance in Washington will last for about 20 minutes and include the protest song We Shall Overcome, a key anthem of the US civil rights movement.
"It makes me feel I'm part of history," said Sheryl Hallett, 10, who wants to be a doctor and play the violin when she grows up. About Mr Obama, she said: "He's really cool. I would ask him to have more math and violin in school." Joshua Kail, nine, said he would ask Mr Obama for his e-mail address. "I would like him to make the school give better food and less tests," he said. Loi Kail, who adopted Joshua in Cambodia, said Mr Obama's election had already raised the intellectual tenor of the United States and lifted the country's standing internationally. "We've got to support education a lot more and not just verbally," she said.
She and many of her fellow citizens - even the young ones - will be waiting to see if Mr Obama actually delivers when he takes office. sdevi@thenational.ae
